Smelling Hip: Osmia Organics Cedar Smoke

Dear Scent Diary,

I believe in natural products. I do.

I believe that our bodies are better able to process natural materials than chemicals. I do believe that we don’t know the safety of all the chemicals we are in contact with, that while safe in isolation, are unknown in all the multitudes of combinations we experience in daily life. I only buy natural hair and skin care products and clean our counters with vinegar and water. I don’t fully buy the staunch rebuttals I occasionally read in the fragrance community defending the use of chemicals in perfumes.

So. Do I have the conviction of my beliefs when it comes to the perfume I wear and purchase? Of course not. You overestimate me. I am a perfume whore.

I have tried many natural perfumes and own several, though they make up only a small fraction of my overall collection. I was, however, first in line to try the Honore des Pres natural range created by Olivia Giacobetti and own a couple. While I’m far too weak and under the spell of all perfumes, including synthetic and mixed media to reject any works of art, I am always looking for interesting new natural lines and a way to assuage my guilt for being a hypocrite.

Osmia Organics is a relatively new brand of skin care, soaps and perfumes started in 2010 by ex-emergency room doctor, Sarah Villafranco. Cedar Smoke is one of ten perfume samples sent to me by the owner and perfumer, and it’s the one that jumped out at me right away – perhaps because I live in the Pacific Northwest and it smells just like a hike in a lush forest after a rain. Paradoxically, it also smells like it would be very at home worn by a hipster with a beard, wearing Japanese raw denim, a $200 plaid shirt and reading Norman Mailer in a coffee shop. Somehow, it would fit the aesthetic perfectly.

Cedar Smoke is a sappy, young cedar wood fragrance that opens quite green (like the scent of a cedar twig that you’ve tried to break but can’t because the wood is too new and young). It dries to a sweet, woody, insence-y, bone dry, eco sexy scent that lasts around four hours. If you live in Brooklyn and fit the description above, you need this fragrance.

And if you can afford the $300 jeans and $200 flannel shirt, you can probably afford Cedar Smoke better than the rest of us. It’s $150 for .48 ounces. However, all of us can afford to sample – Osmia Organics scents are available for only $2 per 1 ml vial at osmiaorganics.com. While you’re ordering, try Couro, their new and very interesting leather fragrance made of an accord of oud, amber and tobacco, and Taza, a sweet, spicy, buttery gourmand scent that’s delicious and lasts and lasts.

2 responses to “Smelling Hip: Osmia Organics Cedar Smoke”

I have felt something very similar! My mother recently pointed out that I am so picky about making sure that my body wash, shampoo, conditioner, facial products and cleaning products are all organic or natural but I completely am ambivalent when it comes to fragrance.

However, in my defense I will say that this choice is mostly due to the fact that I do not like the smell of personal and household cleaning products that are *not* organic and natural, whereas I do like the smell of perfumes that are synthetic or a mix of both.

In any case, I love learning about new lines. This one sounds super interesting, organic or not. Thanks for the introduction and the review!